wrathfulkhan | oh, this'll end well.

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oh, this'll end well. | tushanshu

They're meeting in an outdoor cafe, and not the Hotel. The Hotel would be nice because of the prohibition on violence, but it's too public in the lobby these days, and going to Gene and Tony's shared room would just be awful on so many levels. So they're at a cafe in the Water Sector. Specifically, Tony and Howard are there. Gene hasn't arrived yet. Just as planned; they need to introduce this gradually, starting with the first meeting on neutral ground.

Depending on how this one goes, the reveal of Gene and Tony's relationship may happen sooner or much, much later.

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This is going great so far! So, uh... what is Tony supposed to do? Is he just here to mediate? Is he supposed to contribute? He hadn't really thought things through in that much detail.

"Gene's been heading the construction project. The one that I showed you," Tony blurts, apropos of nothing. But that's a positive thing Gene's done, right? This is helpful, right? Tony's totally helping.

Tony, you're here to make sure they don't kill each other. And maybe to advocate for them to make nice.

"Oh, really?" Howard asks pleasantly. Pleasantly surprised, even.

"I can't take all the credit," Gene demurs, which in and of itself may seem strange for him. "I just did my best to get everything lined up properly with the family heads to demolish the old Palace."

What? Modesty? From the self-proclaimed rightful ruler of the world and all that old shit? Gene really has changed; mellowed out, at least.

"Yeah, but you've been running the show," Tony insists.

"Nobody else would have gotten anything done if you hadn't gotten everything lined up and kept the project on track. And the family heads aren't easy to work with." A fact that Tony is all too familiar with.

"You got the ball rolling and... you know, kept the peace. Nobody got too pissed off, and the construction has been going great."

Edited 2015-05-12 03:28 (UTC)

Howard continues looking at Gene as if he is a particularly interesting wild animal - fascinating enough, but not something he wants to be closer to than necessary.

"Good to hear that you're turning your skills to some good use."

Gene smiles, and it's a bit strained. "I always knew I had it in me to be something other than what I was. And look. Here I am. Half-managing a construction project and trying to keep everyone from being at everyone else's throats."

Yeah, how's that last part working our for you, Gene?

Tony wonders if he's imagining the passive-aggressive tone of that last exchange. Probably not. The tension in the air is still thick enough to fortify a bunker, which is coincidentally something Tony kind of wishes he had right now.

"And you took care of Kalliel," Tony prompts. "You should tell him about Kalliel."

Bunkers will not save you from these munitions, Tony.

"Kalliel?" Despite himself, he's intrigued.

Gene nods at Tony, as if to say, 'good idea'.

"Back before we were trapped in the Dreaming, there were hatchlings on the turtle. Big hatchlings; Kalliel was the size of a van the last time I saw him. They'd pick out a few people to look after them, and...he picked me. It's a psychic thing, we don't have any control over it. If they pick you, you're picked. I took care of him for a few months, until we had to go fight Malicant." He shakes his head. "They all left in a pod, and they're somewhere out there in the ocean. I can feel that he's still there, and still safe, if I really concentrate."

For further clarification, Tony contributes, "They're hatchlings of the same giant turtle species we're on right now. And they not just animals - they could talk to us psychically. Just like regular, non-giant-reptile kids." He chuckles timidly. "It was a big deal, because they're almost extinct, and turtles are what make up all the landmass on this planet. Everybody thought this turtle was the last one until the hatchlings showed up."

See, Howard? That's a big responsibility! And Gene didn't fuck it up. That's a pretty compelling character reference, right?

Compelling enough. At least, if Gene didn't mess up Kalliel the way he'd been broken. Howard's had a taste of Gene's 'care' - he can only hope, for the endangered turtle's sake, that Kalliel hadn't been subjected to the same fate.

"How do you take care of a giant psychic turtle?" This sounds like the lead-up to a bad joke, Howard knows.

The punchline of that joke is 'carefully'; it also happens to be the truth.

"Making sure he was fed and socialized, mostly," Gene says. "It's a big job. Most of the turtles started out with two or three people to take care of them. By the time we went to fight Malicant, I was the only one left to take care of Kalliel."

He really hopes the turtle hadn't felt abandoned. He's not sure if he'll ever know.

And the less said about the turtles that were murdered, the better.

"Yeah, he ate even more than I do." It's a joke! To lighten the mood! Ha ha!

"We had to protect them from Malicant's cultists, too," Tony continues. "Things got pretty rough, by the end - but saving the turtles was as important as beating Malicant." Gene may not have volunteered for that responsibility, but he'd seen it through.

Howard smiles a little at the joke before looking serious again. "Sounds like a tall order. And it looks like you did both. Good job, Gene."

And this just happened in Gene's brain.

"Uh. Thank you?" he says, extremely nonplussed. "I just wish they were still here. They deserve to see Keeliai without it being under the shadow of Malicant."

Tony stares at his dad for a couple seconds, suddenly wondering if he comes from the bizarro version of their universe.

"...Right," he says, when he's (mostly) gotten over his shock. "Yeah. Yes. He, uh, did great." Tony smiles at both of them. This is going much better than he expected.

"And he's sorry about kidnapping you. And... everything else."

Tony fidgets with his teacup and blushes slightly. That was maybe pushing things ahead a little too quickly. He really hopes he didn't ruin it.

Gene winces when Tony brings the kidnapping up - he'd wanted to mention it himself, give Howard a little more time to get used to him, before properly broaching the subject. Howard hadn't really responded earlier - maybe that had been a polite dismissal. Maybe not.

"I know it was wrong now. I think I knew it was wrong then, but I didn't care. I was so caught up in what I thought was my destiny that I didn't care who got hurt."

The implication being that now he does.

"Hm."

Tony's really pushing for them to make up. On the one hand, Howard can see it, since they're the only people Tony has from home and he would ostensibly like to make sure they're not about to kill each other. On the other hand...Tony's really pushing it. He sure would like to know why his son and Gene are suddenly so cozy.

Howard's demeanor has gotten a whole lot colder, and all of that chill is directed at Gene.

Oops. Too far. Tony glances nervously between Gene and Howard and slouches in his chair a little, unconsciously retreating (insofar as retreat is possible).

"I think... a lot of people here made mistakes back home," he says, quiet and uncertain, when the silence starts to get awkward. "Maybe some big ones." A lot of the foreigners keep their backstories quiet, but it's pretty obvious that when Eshai's spell summoned 'warriors,' it wasn't too discriminating on which side they'd been fighting for.

"But we've all been mostly working together, trying to help this world. Whatever people did back in their worlds, they get a second chance here. And... the people they hurt in their worlds are never going to get to see that. They won't get to see how people have changed, and the good we've done here. Except— except us. You're here, and I'm here, and Gene's here, so..." So they have a rare opportunity to work through their grievances from home, and maybe begin to set things right. It's not an opportunity many foreigners get.

Tony takes another anxious sip of tea, not making eye contact with his dad. This is really stressful.

Gene looks down at his drink, at that. It's better if he just doesn't say anything here. He knows that he's not his own best advocate where Howard is concerned. And he really can't say he's surprised.

"Okay," Howard says, in a way that makes it sound like 'okay' doesn't necessarily mean all is copacetic.

"Do you think that's why you're here, and I'm here, Tony? For a second chance?" Howard knows he hasn't kept his nose the cleanest in his life. He's made a lot of mistakes, too. He just doesn't like being called on them by some intrauniversal whateverthefuck.

Well, shit. That took a quick left turn into 'this is not the conversation I signed up for' territory.

Tony looks startled, and then uncomfortable - or, more uncomfortable. "I... I don't think that was the point of the spell. I just always figured we got pulled in from when we did because blowing up the Makluan FTL drive caused some kind of spatio-temporal event that made it easier for the spell to grab us." No judgement by intrauniversal whateverthefuck necessary.

"But people can get away from their pasts, here," he continues cautiously. "It's a good place to start over." Except for the part about sometimes randomly getting pulled back to your own world. Details, details. "There are a lot of opportunities to help out the kedan and do something good for this world. Anybody can... give themselves a second chance. If they want it."

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oh, this'll end well. | tushanshu

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